Hello all,

A wonderful conference indeed.  In fact, I had such a great time, I decided
not to leave and am camped out in the dorms (actually, I am doing research
but do have Tompkins Hall to myself).  The campus was quiet and calm
Sunday--a bit lonesome, but on Monday there was a party with food, a
miniature golf course and other games, and several hundred people
celebrating something.  I had assumed it was the locals celebrating the end
of the Twain madness, but Mark Woodhouse advised me otherwise.

I would echo the praise for Barb, Christy, Mark, and the Elmira staff.  I
would also echo the praise of the international scholars who traveled from
Japan, France, Germany, Hong Kong, and other locations.

I would add a note of praise for the warm and welcoming tone of the
conference.  When I came four years ago as a graduate student, I was
brought into Twain studies with gusto and enthusiasm.  All those books that
I had been reading suddenly came to life as the products of great people
who love their work and want to share it with others.  In the four years
between conferences, I proselytized to graduate students and younger
scholars to come to Elmira--not only for a great conference but, more
importantly, to be included in the community of Mark Twain scholarship (and
fellowship).  I talked to several first-timers, and several international
students, who were surprised and touched that they would be welcomed so
warmly by established scholars.  Surely they are not so welcoming in the
Kafka Society...

Wish you were all still here,

Tracy Wuster

P.s. Look for a review of the conference from "ABE" on
humorinamerica.orglater this week.  The title (at least for now): One
Tan, Many Memories...






On Mon, Aug 5, 2013 at 7:43 PM, Mark Dawidziak <[log in to unmask]>wrote:

> Kent beat me by a few minutes, so I actually was "thirding" praise of
> Barb and the Elmira staff.
>
> On 8/5/2013 7:13 PM, Kent Rasmussen wrote:
> > I'm surprised I seem to have the honor of being the first person to echo
> > Hal's thoughts (unless someone else beats me to it before this note goes
> > online). It goes without saying that we all owe a big debt of gratitude
> t=
> > o
> > Barbara Snedecor, Christy Gray (why do my fingers insist on typing
> "Chris=
> > ty
> > Brown"?), and many others at the center for all their work. This was my
> > fifth conference, and I've always been amazed at the amount of work that
> > goes into them. The attention to detail is quite astounding.
> >
> > I got home to California very late last night and am still a little
> tired=
> >
> > and disoriented. Rather than try to sum up my feeling about the
> > conference--except to say it was wonderful, perhaps the best yet, I'll
> > follow Hal's lead by rattling off some random observations ...
> >
> > --I too was impressed by the Japanese contributions to the conference
> and=
> >
> > the dedication and energy the Japanese scholars put into their
> > presentations. I counted ten Japanese paper presenters. Wouldn't it be
> > something if that many people participated from each of many different
> > countries!
> >
> > --I was fortunate to be in Elmira in May, when blooming flowers made the
> > campus more beautiful than I had ever seen it, but it still looked
> awfull=
> > y
> > beautiful during the conference, which was blessed with cool weather.
> The=
> >
> > grounds of Quarry Farm also looked more beautiful than ever, thanks, I'm
> > sure to Tim Morgan. And Hal is right about the view from there!
> >
> > --Speaking of the weather, the air conditioning in the new dormitory,
> Mei=
> > er
> > Hall, was almost too cold. Imagine that in Elmira! It's a wonderful,
> > old-school-style building, by the way. Its spacious commons room has a
> ni=
> > ce
> > old-fashioned fireplace, by which John Bird read an unpublished (for
> now)=
> >
> > fairy tale by Mark Twain, and at least one aging scholar (if that's the
> > correct) word comfortably drifted off to sleep.
> >
> > --I can't remember a conference with more papers that I wanted to hear.
> A=
> > s
> > virtually every time slot had concurrent sessions, I missed nearly half
> t=
> > he
> > presentations I wanted to attend. I've been lobbying Barbara to add
> anoth=
> > er
> > day to the conference to reduce the number of scheduling conflicts.
> Sure,=
> >
> > some people would miss sessions because they couldn't come on Wednesday
> .=
> > ..
> > but would that be any worse than missing them because of scheduling
> > conflicts? Another suggestion I'd like to throw out is that it would be
> g=
> > ood
> > to have a web site where ALL conference papers would be posted. Not
> > necessarily the scholars' full-length papers, but at least the truncated
> > versions they present at the conferences.
> >
> > --I've been to Elmira seven times and was stunned to realize I had never
> > before been inside Cowles Hall and seen its chapel! Its magnificent
> woodw=
> > ork
> > and stained-glass windows are gorgeous. Its acoustics aren't good for
> > speakers, but no one visiting the campus should miss a chance to visit
> th=
> > e
> > chapel.
> >
> > --I'm not sure it's appropriate to single out individual papers for
> prais=
> > e
> > here, as I don't want to hurt the feelings of people I fail to mention.
> I=
> > 'll
> > merely say that keynote speaker Peter Kaminsky's praise of Horst Kruse's
> > presentation was right on the money and that there were many, many fine
> > papers at the conference.
> >
> > I'll end by enthusiastically seconding John Bird's call to everyone to
> > attend the next conference at Hannibal in 2015. I'm not an officer of
> the=
> >
> > Mark Twain Circle, so I speak only for myself, but I'd like to see these
> > conferences unified into a single-series biennial conference with
> > alternating venues. Why not?
> >
> > Okay, I will single out another person. Mark Twain Project editor Ben
> > Griffin's talk in the chapel about Mark Twain's "A Family Sketch" was
> > wonderful--informative, fascinating, and occasionally hilarious. I
> hearti=
> > ly
> > concur with another attendee who suggested that perhaps he should have
> be=
> > en
> > the keynote speaker. Next time? Incidentally, Bob Hirst was no slouch of
> =
> > a
> > follow-up speaker.
> >
> > Kent Rasmussen
> >
>